It’s a God Thing

       How did I know that my husband and I were meant to be together?  I prayed a lot before we even started dating because I was uncertain if it was the right time for me to embark on that part of my journey.  Then, on our first date, he gave me a single dark orange rose.  I’ve always preferred simplicity over grand gestures, but the most interesting thing was that dark orange roses were my favorite colour rose ever since my mom accidentally grew some in our front yard.  Without explaining I asked him why he got me that specific colour and he said that God had told him to.

        It was a few weeks later that I was visiting his house for the first time and I saw a flowering plant that I hadn’t seen since I was a little girl in my Grandma’s house.  I still can’t remember what they are called (though I’ve found the name several times online) but I’ll always remember the star shaped ‘plastic like’ bunches of flowers with their pungent scent.  I loved that plant and for many years (pre internet) wished I could find it somewhere but no one was able to tell me what its name was based on my description and my family didn’t remember it.  I still love it today.  It is the only plant that has survived our married years though it has been badly neglected at times.

       Ours was a short ‘courtship’ and we were soon to be married.  During a visit to my old church I sat down next to an unfamiliar man.  He mentioned something about me being a bride.  It was rather strange because we hadn’t even been talking.  That was all he said, and it made me think God was speaking through him.  (Years later I met my very best friend, and when I met her father, it was the man who made that statement.  He didn’t remember me or what he had said.)

       There were so many ‘God things’ that happened on our journey to becoming a couple.  Here’s one of the biggest ones which initiated that journey.  I had no intention of going to some rinky dink Bible College in some small town with a bunch of unknown teachers, yet that is exactly where God told me to go.  The first friend I made there was also Albert’s friend so we ended up hanging out together frequently.  Albert and I had so many things in common it was scary.

       When I look back at my whole life, I see a lot of God things in my life, some which helped me to find Him, and some that helped me become the person I am today.  He continues to do big and small things in my life.  It’s kind of neat that our God who sustains this universe and everything in it, who knows all and is everywhere, takes the time to do big and small ‘God things’ in our lives. 

He’s just really cool that way!

God Can

       Other than a few notable exceptions, such as lie and change His nature, God can do anything.

Is any thing too hard for the LORD? Gen. 18:14 

I know that thou canst do every thing, Job 42:2 

Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee: Jer. 32:17,27 

But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible. Mat. 19:26; Mark 10:27  

And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God. Luke 18:27 

These are just some of the things He can do:

He can give eternal life:  …And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. John 10:27, 28 

He can heal the brokenhearted:  He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds. Ps. 147:3

He can open our eyes:  And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man;  2 Kin. 6:17 

He can protect us:  The LORD shall preserve (put a hedge of protection around) thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in … Ps. 121:7,8 

He can give us joy:  …for the LORD had made them joyful. Ezr. 6:22 

He can heal us: …for I am the LORD, who heals you. Ex. 15:26

He can provide:  But my God shall supply all your need… Php. 4:19 

He can give us freedom:  If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. John 8:36  Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, Gal. 5:1 

He can deliver us:  And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work… 2 Tim. 4:18 

He can part the Red Sea and the Jordan:  Ex. 14;  Josh. 3

He can raise the dead:  For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. John 5:21 

       With all the things God CAN do, why do we, His children, continue to ‘put Him in a box’?  He can go above and beyond our comprehension:  Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think…  Eph. 3:20 

Remember, He does not change:   

For I am the LORD, I change not; Mal. 3:6 

Hunger

       I just finished a handful of grapes, but I was still hungry so I went after a couple of chocolate chip cookies.  They didn’t satisfy me, so I grabbed some candy and after I polished it off, I found my tummy was still rumbling.  Chips, cheese and nuts later, my hunger remained unabated.  It wasn’t until I found some meat in the fridge and made a mini sandwich that I finally felt satisfied.  Hunger can be that way, and my body knows what it needs.

       The foods I crave in life are usually ones that are not very healthy for me:  chocolate, soft ice cream, candy, more chocolate, hard ice cream, cookies, brownies, dill pickle chips, more chocolate and ice cream.  (Weird how I don’t like chocolate ice cream, but chocolate on ice cream is terrific!)  A craving can be very intense until it is filled.

Hunger defined:  Strong’s (3983)- To pine for or crave. 

Webster’s- a craving of food by the stomach; to desire with great eagerness; to long for.

       There is one thing, rather one person whom we should hunger for.  It is the Lord our God.  We should desire more of Him in our lives and to know Him more.  All those who ‘fall in love’ have the strongest longing to get to know the one they love.  We should have the same desire to know our Lord more intimately every day.  We should hunger for it.

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Matt. 5:6

But cleave (cling to, follow close, pursue hard) unto the LORD your God, Josh. 23:8

(David to God) My soul followeth hard after thee: Ps. 63:8
Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Jam. 4:8

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Matt. 6:21

       If the Lord is your treasure, then He has your heart and you should hunger for more of Him.  If you don’t hunger then you should ask yourself why.  Contrary to popular opinion, absence doesn’t make the heart grow fonder, especially with the Lord- it actually makes it forget or grow colder.  Out of sight, out of mind.  So, how do you develop a stronger desire or hunger for the Lord?

       If all your sensory input has nothing to do with the Lord (what you see, hear, read, learn, feel) then your hunger will ‘feel’ abated by that unhealthy but ‘tasty food’.  However, when you start feeding yourself healthier food, your body will be truly satisfied- and stronger for it.  So also when you start feeding yourself healthier sensory input, such as watching godly tv shows, listening to preaching and teaching, reading the Bible, studying the Word, fellowshipping with other Christians, having conversations about the Lord etc, you will develop a need/ a hunger for the Lord that will surprise you. 

From my experience anyway, this is true.  See if it is for you…

Prayer from the Bible

       You can read books and hear about how you should pray from the Bible.  Funny thing is, there are certain scriptures that you never hear people use when they pray.  Maybe this is one that we should pray for…  often.  I’ve got three versions in case you don’t believe the first to be accurate.

Ps. 141:3

Help me, Lord, to keep my mouth shut and my lips sealed. TLB

Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips. KJV

O Jehovah, set a guard to my mouth; keep watch on the door of my lips. TIB

       Why would David pray to keep his mouth and his lips closed?  It seems redundant.  Let’s break it down a little.  David asks God to place or appoint a guard for his mouth.  Guards are meant to protect the innocent or keep the criminals locked up.  In other words, David wants the guard to keep the door from opening inappropriately and allowing ‘evil’ out and he wants it to protect others from his vile tongue.

       David then asks the Lord to protect the ‘swinging’ of his lips.  It sounds to me like he wants the Lord to keep him from saying the wrong things.  We all say the wrong thing sometimes whether intentionally spoken or in the heat of the moment.  And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell. (Jam. 3:6)  Our words can injure others.  The second commandment is to love others; that means we shouldn’t use our mouths to injure them.

       Or maybe David thought he just needed to speak less often.  Sometimes I wonder if I speak too much.  I certainly speak far more than when I was a very shy youth who hardly spoke to anyone!  We should listen more to others and really hear them… ah, but I digress.  David prayed that the Lord would help him to guard his mouth and words.  Shouldn’t we all do the same?

Dark Places

       Hearing bad news of tragedy and death is not a good way for me to start my day, as happened this morning.  So it was with a lingering sadness that I drove my son to his bus stop.  Returning home, I watched as the cars passed me by and wondered how many of the people driving by me are headed for hell and don’t even know it.

       We don’t like to talk about that place because it is a horrible place of unimaginable torment, so we don’t even like to think about people going there.  Still, scripturally speaking, those who do not intimately know God, and whom He does not intimately know- as in a personal relationship- will not be going to live with Him in Heaven.  The only other place to go for all eternity is hell.  So as I drove I had a feeling of inability to change their destiny and a strong desire to do something about it, but what?  I am just one person doing whatever I am able with the people that surround me.

       It was a dark place for me to be when I got home and pondered these deep thoughts.  It tears at my heart to think of one person suffering, let alone hundreds or thousands, and I wonder how God survives the painfulness of these kinds of thoughts.  The Lord was helping me hang on when in the midst of my dark place the telephone rang.  My friend was calling to give me some ‘disappointing’ news.  But the call was no disappointment for she ended up reaching in to my dark place and helping me get back to a better place.

       I’m sure given enough time the Lord would have achieved the same results, but He put us here on the earth with some pretty remarkable people who are able to touch our lives if we allow them to.  He used my friend’s fingers to dial the phone, He used her heart to give understanding, He used her voice to comfort me and her arm to reach out to my dark place, and I’m sure when she called, she had no idea what her call would mean to me.

       We aren’t meant to be alone in dark places.  Our Creator is with us at all times. (Heb. 13:5)  He also meant for us to have others like us in our lives.  From the beginning Adam had God.  Then Adam had animals around him.  But still, God made someone like Adam to be with him.  Jehovah did not mean for us to be alone.

(…God said, It is not good that the man -lit. human being- should be alone:… Gen. 2:18) Think about the two most important commandments: to wholly love God, and to love others as ourselves. (Matt. 22:37-40)  It is not good for us to be alone…

       Let each of us be the arm of God reaching out into the community, into the lives of those around us, reaching into the dark places of one another’s lives to show our love and the love of Jesus Christ.  Let us remind them, every one, they are not alone for we understand and struggle too.  Let us bring comfort as we have been comforted. (2 Cor 1:3,4)  Let us not become weary in well doing. (Gal. 6:9)  Lord, let us never fail to love for when we love, the dark places aren’t so dark anymore.

Sunday Morning

       It’s Sunday morning and I’m running on a lack of sleep- totally my fault of course.  It was busy yesterday, a festival in the morning out in the county and a different one later in the evening locally.  Lots of candy, lack of healthy food, a lot of walking, and opportunities to visit with some people I haven’t seen for a while.  It was a good day, but I’m paying for it today.  A slightly upset stomach (all that sugar, not too good) and unable to go to sleep (did I mention the sugar?)  But it’s all good.  It really is.

       When I contemplate at what time I started liking life again, actually enjoying it, it has just been the past couple of years.  I’m almost afraid I’ll jinx it by writing it in plain sight.  There haven’t been too many times I’ve felt this content in my life.  Don’t get me wrong, my life isn’t that perfect; far from it as a matter of fact.  When you look at my life with natural eyes, you would think, ‘with all that is a physical issue (finances, health etc) how can you possibly be content?’  It’s so difficult to answer that question.

       I know that at this time I understand my Lord more than ever- realizing the second I type that, I am still so very far from really knowing Him the way I want.  The peace and joy I live in has never been stronger.  He is more amazing to me everyday, and in His presence- well, there is just no better place to be.  Living life with Him is the greatest freedom I have ever experienced.  I am truly content in Him.

Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.

Php. 4:11 

But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.  1Tim. 6:6-8 

Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Heb. 13:5

       And yet there is one thing of which I am never satisfied.  There is a part of me that cries out to know my Love, my Lord, my Life, my Breath all the more.  It is like I am always grasping for yet never attaining the complete understanding of Him, and life with Him, which I desire.  I want more of Him in my life.  I want to be more like Him in my life.  I have this never ending hunger to understand fully who He is and to be as close as humanly possible, completely living in the Spirit while doing His will here on earth.  Total surrender.  I hope it’s possible, because it’s what I’m aiming for.  Meanwhile, I plan on enjoying where I am in Him right now.

For today, I think I’ll behave myself a little more by eating much healthier  J

                       …maybe…